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Monday, September 26, 2016

Do the seniors really have "senior privileges?"

Nina Coughlin and Courtney PurdyStaff WritersThe class of 2017 is beginning to question if the senior privileges they have waited four years to receive are even “senior” privileges anymore. On the first day back to school, every student was told that seniors are no longer the only ones that have the privilege to leave early and come in late; the juniors now get that benefit as well. Not only was the class of 2017 angered by this new rule, they were also questioning what the reasoning was. An email was sent out by Mrs. Nealis through listserv stating that seniors received “first priority” for the 100 spots available in the West lot. Those who did not get a pass in the first 100 spots were given the opportunity to get a spot once they were counted in the first week of school. After about two weeks, nearly 20 spots were taken away due to construction in the back lot. Since then, students with late arrival that come to school around 8:40 enter that parking lot to find that all the spots are filled. To their surprise, a majority of the cars belong to juniors, and there are even cars without parking passes. Seniors that were told that they had “priority” over the available parking spots are now parking in nonexistent spots on the grass and in the East parking lot. They also have to see those who don’t even have their licenses are getting parking spots issued to them, just to add to the overflow that is already present in the lot. Not only are seniors upset about the parking situation, we have many seniors complaining about the lack of freedom during lunch. An angry senior, Mackenzie Carpenter said: “It feels the same as junior year. We are sitting at the same table we’ve sat at all of high school. I was really looking forward to being able to eat lunch anywhere in the school.” In previous years, when the current seniors were underclassmen they had study halls first and eighth period but did not have the privilege to come in late or leave early. Now, they are seeing their fellow classmates coming in late and leaving early as juniors.